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Oduro equalizer salvages point for Crew vs. Union

Dominic Oduro

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

Dominic Oduro may finally be settling in with the Columbus Crew.

Failing to find the net in the past three matches, Oduro seized his opportunity, rifling home a second half-equalizer for the Columbus Crew in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with the Philadelphia Union at Crew Stadium.

Despite the Crew having a majority of the ball during the match, the Union got on the board first, scoring in the 34th minute through Jack McInerney. Danny Cruz beat the Crew’s offside trap before squaring to McInerney, who couldn’t miss into an open net for his third of the season.

The home side suffered from poor finishing during the first half. Ben Speas, Eddie Gaven, and Dominic Oduro each had terrific opportunities on goal and either missed their shots, or put them well wide. Even Union forward Conor Casey missed a point blank chance to put his team up two goals before the halftime break.

After pressing for nearly all of the second half, the Crew got their game-tying goal in the 72nd minute. Gaven played Oduro into the box with the outside of his foot, and from a sharp angle the Ghanian blasted over the head of Union goalkeeper Zac MacMath into the net for his first home goal of the season.

Both teams would soon hit the crossbar within seconds of each other. First, it was Union substitute Antoine Hoppenot firing a strike on goal that Crew goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum deflected away off the crossbar on just the Frenchman’s second touch since coming on. Crew defender Josh Williams followed this chance by getting on the end of a deflected cross into the box, heading a floating ball off the crossbar and away, to the gratitude of the Union defenders.

The game finished with a flurry of yellow cards, as tired legs and the end-to-end style of the match took a toll on the players.

Here are the match highlights:

Comments

  1. Pretty uninspiring stuff. Philly lacks the system and/or the players to frequently create good chances. In fact, Philly’s best chances came from clueless defending from Columbus as opposed to quality play. Casey’s flick was very nice, but what were the Columbus defenders doing as Cruz was in on goal and two other Union players we’re ushering him there.

    Cruz is just a hustler who doesn’t offer much else and Carroll is even more limited. The Farfans have real quality but they only display it in flashes and can’t sustain it for a half, let alone a game. Defensively the Union look pretty strong though Zach MacMath is always ready to undermine them.

    This team is in real need of some midfield quality.

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